Final Fantasy Omega

No Light No Light

Kalil Kiran, Naoko Kyuudou, Kogel, Aidan Denun, Champ Justice, and Darien Reinholder fought through their own individual hells to reach the end of their journey and a battle against the man responsible — Lord Hades. Hades used their absence to gain control over the Aeon of Time and planned to use it to restore his master, Angra Mainyu, to His full power. His lieutenant, Xehanort, would serve as the final line of defense against the heroes, with Hades not bothering to be present during his true moment of triumph.

The Battle With Xehanort

“Deliver your souls unto the Destroyer, so that your deaths shall not be in vain!”

-Xehanort, to the party

The battle was unique, with each person still trapped fighting against Xehanort in the guise of something from their “pocket world.”

Aidan faced a shade of Darien Reinholder, who used the skeletal remains of his fallen Aeons to attack Aidan in the ruined city of Donnerich.
Naoko (with her world’s Aidan by her side) faced a shade of the animated corpse of Lord Hades atop the Tower of Souls inside the Far Realm.
Kogel (alongside his teenaged son Glenn) faced a shade of Taijiya, attempting to bring about every parent’s worst nightmare on the fractured beach of Harvest.
Champ faced a shade of Vanitas, battling for supremacy inside Kingdom Hearts.
Kalil and Darien fought the true Xehanort atop the Tower of Souls in the true Damocles, with the largest battle since Operation: Knock It Down raging all around them.

“Then watch and learn. This is how you fight monsters.”

-Kogel, to Glenn

Unfortunately for Xehanort, six lifetimes of pain and anguish proved to be more than he could handle. With only Xehanort separating them, each member of the party fought with a passion and an intensity that they’d perhaps never reached before. Aidan’s Omega Limit activated for the first time, calling upon his connection to the Afterlife to let everyone close to Aidan in the Afterlife attack his enemy — in this case, the ghosts of the party fighting Darien. Kogel’s Omega Limit, Chrono Flare, also triggered, with a quick follow-up from Kogel tapping into the Fire materia’s fourth vein with Flare.

In the battle against Xehanort, Naoko activated the Soul necklaces she took from Hades’s corpse in the ruined Stronghold. The world she teleported into was a photo negative of the five broken realities, all connected at a central point — Eden, captured by Hades at the start of his plan. Naoko took the Doorway to Tomorrow that she claimed in her reality and broke it, then gathered up the injured and heartstricken Eden and teleported back into her world.

Xehanort’s end came when Kalil unleashed his new Limit Break, sending the guardian of Kingdom Hearts down to his knees with a series of vicious sword slashes, and triggering the Ragnarok’s Overdrive, which broke the false worlds apart.

Cracks extend out from that center point in all five realities, that same light shining up through everyone’s world.
Those cracks spread… and spread… and spread…. appearing in the sky, above you, around you, behind you, surrounding you, spiderwebbing across the sky. The beach breaks apart, sand pouring into the rifts, water emptying the oceans. Donnerich shatters, buildings tumbling, fires extinguishing as the world ceases its support of them. The Station fractures, jagged lines across Champ’s form as the Unversed fall into the newly-created pits. The mirror-top of the chained clock tower crumbles, pieces tumbling down into the ocean below.
The false realities are breaking all around you… leaving you behind, in the true Damocles.

The Fall Of Hades

“Oh, I’m sorry, did we break your concentration?”

-Naoko, to Hades

Xehanort’s end came not at the hands of the party, but due to Hades burning him alive with Dark Firaga, irate at Xehanort’s failure to stop the party. Hades then took it upon himself to fight the heroes, but not before having a Premonition (due to his link with Time) of his own death at their hands.

Darien withdrew from the battle early, electing to active his Limit Break, summon Alexander, and oversee the battle with Hades’s forces by controlling the Highwind fleet due to the Logos connection with Alexander. Kogel and Naoko, no longer separated by realities, summoned Yuna. Champ and Kogel, no longer separated by realities, summoned Bahamut. Naoko activated her Limit Break and merged with Madain. Champ activated his Limit Break, Exploder. Hades attempted to use the shards of the false realities as a weapon, using them against the party, but through some trick of the universe Kogel disarmed him.

The final strike came as Time stopped for Hades, replaying the battle, letting out one final scream as time snapped back into motion… followed by another, significantly more final, snap, as Naoko’s kick brought an end to the sorcerer’s life.

Reunion

“Eden said you’d come for us, and you did.”“Took me a little while longer than I’d hoped.”

-Kogel and Kalil

It wasn’t until Hades was dead, and confirmed to be dead by Naoko’s continued kicking of the body as she broke down, that the party really realized they were all back together. Champ and Naoko embraced, Champ gladly returning to his role as the rock in everyone’s lives. The adrenaline leaving Kogel’s body led him to race around frantically recapping what happened to everyone in his world, with Kalil unable to let go of the fact that apparently he lost an eye. Geist and the Southern Cross landed, with the party buried under wailing tonberries and the rest of the crews. Kalil passed along his thanks to Mist and the Boryokudan via PHS.

Darien broke the celebration with a sharply cleared throat.

Doctor?

“Caelis, I’m… I’m Karl Sever. I’m Thierry’s son. There was an accident. You were researching the fourth vein of the Ultima materia.”

-Kogel, to Caelis

Caelis Balthazar was back in Damocles as well, but this Caelis was not the Caelis that went through. This Caelis was 15 years younger, back before his fall from grace. The party had all discovered that the false worlds were exactly that, false, but they theorized that Caelis hadn’t, and thus when the false worlds were broken, Caelis came back as he was in the other world — changed, younger, free of EDEN. Anxious to keep him free of the Faction, the party agreed to take Caelis where his life changed forever — to Kogel’s birthplace, the island in the middle of the ocean that once held the Ultima Experiment, and where everything changed forever fifteen years before.

Postgame

Session 300 leveled the party up to Level 20, introduced the Link Board, and brought an end to Disc Six.

Everything Old Is New Again

Burning Questions

“Somewhere inside that man is a maniac that wants to become a god. His closest friends couldn’t save him from it before. What chance do we have?”

-Naoko, regarding Caelis

The party brought Caelis Balthazar to Kogel’s as-yet-unnamed island in an attempt to figure out what to do with their archenemy before the Faction reclaimed him. The Caelis that came back from the false reality was not the Caelis they spent a year and a half battling, but a younger, calmer Caelis, if no less intense. When he spoke, he spoke with one voice alone, not the three mixing together that they had come to accept.

Caelis described his recent past to Kogel as follows: “At first, I was on a boat en route to this island, traveling with my associates Gaspar and Melchior, ready to meet with your father for the third time. And then I was in a world without form, a void without shape or purpose, where I felt that the world was nothing but potential, and it was just waiting to become what it would be. Then that world became the top of that tower, and I saw the last moments of that pitched battle play out over the sea, and then turned to see the six of you and your airships converging on us.”

He then asked the question the party was dreading — who was he to them, and who was he to Damocles?

The Other You

“Your other self. The one we know. He was our enemy. And the enemy of the entire world.I don’t know who you are."

-Kalil, to Caelis

Kogel told Caelis the truth — the full truth, or at least as much of the truth as he could fit into the conversation. He told Caelis about EDEN and Caelis’s goal to use it to create a perfect world. He told Caelis about the experiment regarding Ultima. Caelis responded by producing his Ultima materia, marking the second instance of that unique materia in Damocles. Kogel said that he, just like the rest of them, were put into “a nexus of infinite possibility and potential,” able to see what may have changed or what could happen, inside their individual pocket worlds.

Naoko pulled Kogel away to argue about telling Caelis too much, making the life he was denied sound entirely too appealing. She argued that Kogel was setting Caelis on the same path by telling him the facts in this manner. Kogel argued that this Caelis wasn’t their enemy, and neither he nor Naoko could think of much else to do with him, unable to put him back and unable to set him free. Kalil and Caelis carried on a careful conversation during this time, ranging from Kalil’s former status as an immortal tied to an Aeon, the whereabouts of the other Sages, and confirming that he had nothing to do with the untimely passing of Doctor Thierry Sever, Kogel’s father. Caelis then graciously allowed the party to discuss their next action by talking to Darien about the advances in airship technology over the last 15 years.

Champ proposed giving Caelis to SeeD custody, but putting him in the research division with Taur and Grey by his side, so he could continue his work and the other Sages could carefully monitor his behavior to see if there were any hints of the previous Caelis. The person most responsible for Caelis, though, would be the party member with the closest link to him: Kogel.

“You know, three times I’ve had the chance to kill him. To end this all. And now here he is, completely vulnerable. And I’m saying we shouldn’t do it.”

-Kogel

The Devils You Know

“I assume you understand – if we’re able to restore you to the point in time where you left, knowing too much about the future could cause unpredictable complications.”“Which is precisely why you told me as much as you did, ensuring that I would not be able to return. Am I correct?”

-Kogel and Caelis

Despite uncovering Kogel’s plan, Caelis agreed to its terms, stating that he was not ready to see if any of Kogel’s words were bluffs. Champ oversaw Caelis being transferred to SeeD custody, giving him to a number of his most trusted agents.

The party retired to Madain Sari, where a party awaited them. Before anyone could really relax, they needed to catch up on what happened in their absence, so the party convened in the War Room for the briefing.

The revelation that Kalil allied with the Boryokudan during the party’s absence was met with disbelief from some and a violent outburst from Kogel, who was incensed that Kalil partnered with “folks that have been kidnapping, murdering.” Kalil argued that the Boryokudan were indebted to someone else, the mysterious Boss of the Boryokudan, and that Mist was still working on uncovering his identity. The clarification that the favor owed by the party to the One-Armed Dragon was an unspecified favor, to be called in later, did little to improve moods. Jericho stepped in to defend Kalil near the end, listing out all of the things that broke in their absence, and how ragged Kalil ran himself keeping up. The others reluctantly conceded the need for the Boryokudan, with Naoko’s comment of “any port in a storm, huh?” summing it up.

Sharp-Dressed Man

“…the fuck are you doing here? How’d you get here?”“I walked, if you must know.”

-Naoko and Balthier

Balthier introduced himself to the group at the meeting’s end, announcing that he would be Naoko’s second Link free of EDEN if she’d have him, and that he was escorting Eden to see them, so she could apologize again. The party quickly accepted and then discarded her apologies, just happy to see her safe. Eden revealed that she was part of Chaos now, demonstrated by the white wing on her shoulder, and Kalil’s past link to Chaos was how she was able to find and free him before. The party officially welcomed Eden to Madain Sari and Paradise, and everyone went home happy.

The Boryokudan Hunt

Gathering Information

“Independent of their impact on my trade, the NRTF is more of a joke than something to praise. One of their ‘finest’ was thrown out of the city for domestic assault, even, but you’ll never hear them admit it.”

-Edward

Naoko, Kalil, Champ, and Mariano traveled to Night’s Run to follow up on two issues — the status of SeeD with President Cid under the Donnerich City Council’s control, and the case of this Boryokudan member claiming to be part of the Night’s Run Task Force.

After scaring the life out of Constable Owain of the City Guard, Commander Justice and the rest of his party explored the city while they waited for Chief Jackson to return from his rounds. They elected to track down the “spoony bard” Edward, whom Naoko had helped right after the Garamonde Tournament of Champions with Simeon and Constance.

Edward told them the story of Nahaje Mensah, kicked out of the NRTF for a domestic assault call. The rumor was that Mensah’s wife was running around on him, and he did not take this well. Edward figured that Peponi Mensah was certainly Nahaje’s ex-wife by now, and knew that she was living with another man. Nahaje’s parents — Ezekiel and Rayya Mensah, then and now members of the force — all but disowned him for his actions.

Confirming The Story

“If I sent someone to infiltrate this Boryokudan, whatever they are, then why would my guy on the inside blow his own cover soon as someone showed up?”“Maybe he felt SeeD was trustworthy. Maybe he felt buying himself the time it would take us to investigate his claim would be enough. Maybe he choked under the pressure. Maybe it was a big April Fool’s Day joke. I don’t know, chief. You tell me.”

-Chief Jackson Coppola and Naoko Kyuudou

After Naoko forced his hand, Jackson confirmed that Nahaje was indeed a member of the NRTF, on deep cover to infiltrate the Boryokudan. Five people know that the domestic assault case was a fabrication — Nahaje, Peponi, Evan (the “other man”), Jackson, and President Cid. Jackson intimated that the Boryokudan infiltration mission came down from Cid himself. Cid being under the Council’s house arrest, though, made it impossible for them to get any messages through to him reliably.

Promises Will Be Kept

Commander, you are to proceed with the Operation at the earliest available hour. See to it that the Operation is carried out to its fullest. Remain true to the SeeD Code of Conduct in all forms. All risks are to be understood before the Operation begins.

Champ, Naoko, Kogel, and Daryl met at Garden to discuss the issues facing SeeD, primarily those surrounding funding, but also about the events of the previous day in Night’s Run. The letter Jackson gave to Champ gave orders for the secret purpose of SeeD to begin immediately. The secret directive in SeeD was keeping Donnerich’s power in check, and called for a hostile takeover if all over avenues failed. While the idea was met with varying levels of excitement (Naoko was strongly against, Kogel remarked he’d do that for free), they focused on other avenues.

The “seat on the Council” idea came back up. The Council members serve terms of four years, with no term limits. There used to be just eight seats on the Council, with the President serving as the tiebreaker, but Shadrach Masters successfully pushed for a ninth seat under the pretense of giving the military an official, equal presence. The military seat is held by Grand Admiral Thomas Juriani, who Aries described as “a good guy. Part of advisory board that court-martialed and discharged Jones. Responsible for fixing the Navy’s rep in wake of that scandal, though you could term it whitewashing if you were in a bad mood.”

Three seats on the Council are currently up for election:

Giancarlo Valdes, Transportation

Russ Haley, Economics

Marie Killham, Energy

Kogel pushed for a long-term plan, not getting one seat on the Council in their favor, but five. It’s not enough to get intel, the party needed to be able to counter any Council member plots. Kogel’s initial idea was to discredit Shadrach by linking him to the Boryokudan through his son, the One-Armed Dragon, and possibly linking them both to Huxley, known to be a huge threat to society due to the Highwind debacle in Striestadt (the link being the Dragon’s artificial arm).

In the middle of arranging the plans — Naoko to Striestadt to talk to Huxley, Kogel digging more into the history between Dragon and Shadrach — Kogel had another thought regarding the plot.

Bring the Boryokudan into it.

Second Chances

“Caelis wanted a perfect world. Hades wanted to serve Angra Mainyu. The Boryokudan are an unknown. Their pawns follow orders out of coercion at first, and then brotherhood. Not out of any kind of fanaticism or creed, not from what we can tell, right? But someone has to have a plan. Crime always has a purpose – but this goes beyond just accumulating wealth. They’re destabilizing governments, they’re willing to kill innocents to do it. I want to know who, I want to know why, and then I’ll have a target. Until then, I have a bunch of unknowns. And if Mist is right, and these are basically decent people coerced into evil deeds… I have a bit of experience with that.”

-Kogel

Champ shared Kalil’s information with the group about Boryokudan members who may be convinced to jump ship — Trey Margrace, Sebastian Essai, and Sabin Harter — plus the added interest of Nahaje Mensah being part of the NRTF. Mist’s identification of the two women behind the attack on Aidan at the hotel opening in Luxuocidad, Reis Argent and Katrina Cespar, as another Boryokudan cell. The main plot being worked by Mist’s section of the Boryokudan was to find Tiamat, which was met with much profanity.

As the meeting wound up, everyone took on individual tasks.

Naoko would take Wu to Striestadt shortly to speak with Huxley and determine his involvement with the Boryokudan.
Kogel would oversee Katari Front investigating the Council members.
Naoko would also oversee the distribution of SeeD missions as her position as Squad A Captain outlined.

Sages

“The Sages, capital S mind you, are a close-knit group of scientists who dedicate their lives to furthering humanity’s knowledge of all things scientific. Combating diseases, overhauling city infrastructure…”“…dealing with Striestadt’s pollution issues, helping Night’s Run deal with the monsters without having to build higher and higher walls, better understand the creatures in the Field, and—”“Space.”“Yes. All the things we were doing before we all died in that explosion.”

-Taur and Grey

Taur and Grey asked Kogel and the others to think about potential new Sages, people to help usher in the next age of enlightenment on Damocles. Names that quickly came to mind from Kogel and Naoko were Arich Zokunnen, Rachel Zokunnen, Romaji Kaigo, and Kanji Kaigo (with Julia Tilmitt mentioned as a history consultant).

Naoko privately confirmed Sabin Harter’s involvement with Taur and Grey after the meeting, and said that the reason the antidotes dried up is that they ran out of pure Lifestream crystals, “the kind that only get harvested maybe once every two hundred years.”

Kogel and Champ privately met with Bahamut regarding Tiamat, after warning him that Naoko would be showing up on a rampage in the coming days. Bahamut said that Thalatte must be set free, and that Tiamat must die.

Bring the young summoner and her flock to the site of your rebirth into this world, and call upon me. I will show you the way.Promises will be kept.

The Alexander Event

Kogel and Kalil accompanied Darien to Striestadt to check on the Highwind’s status and for Darien to publicly thank Governor Martine for his help in their largely-private battle against Hades and the mysterious castle. Kogel received a call from Rato with a bit of information — houses in Donnerich being sold for gil on the gillion, and three shell companies all reporting back to one core company under a man from Kogel’s past — Forsk, with Gold Saucer Entertainment last time Kogel checked in.

The news that caught Darien’s ear, though, was Martine privately telling him that he planned to retire at the end of the month. Martine felt that he was no longer the leader that Striestadt needed. Martine’s skills were in economy above all else, and he felt that Striestadt needed a true politician first and foremost. Darien told Martine he wasn’t interested in the position. Kogel and Kalil took part in a brief philosophical battle, but put it on hold to investigate the explosion outside the city a few days before.

Explosions In The Sky

“Will said their findings were very inconclusive, unfortunately, due to a high presence of Striestadt officials and Donnerich officials at the site trying to battle over who got to inspect it first. They weren’t able to do a thorough investigation as a result, but they gathered what intel they could.”“Why would Donnerich officials be present?”“Politics. Fear that it was testing some kind of weapon. There’s a lot of frustration on all sides right now. The explosion took place roughly at 11:30 PM, according to reports from people living in the general area, mostly farmers and a few people traveling to Night’s Run who heard the sound on the road. One person claims to have witnessed a blinding light like the flash of a thunderbolt right before they heard the sound. No one was harmed; the area hit by the explosion was wilderness. Trees splintered, rocks pulverized, ground torn up, but no bodies recovered.”

-Darien and Kogel

The group fanned out to investigate upon arriving at the detonation site. Kalil confirmed that the explosion didn’t match the shape of any charges he knew. Kogel took the previous investigation’s report of mysterious feelings (Will saying one section made him “all tingly”) and translated that into a Regen-like effect for materia. The explosion was from a moving detonation source, not just planted. The explosion was not Time-based, as their stopwatch test came back negative. The explosion happened in midair, due to the pattern of vegetation. There was a distinct lack of debris, however, which puzzled them. Kogel’s perimeter inspection confirmed that nothing was summoned out of the blast. Using Kalil’s Elemental-linked armor, the party shifted materia to try and determine what materia removed the “tingly” feeling.

It turned out to be Holy.

The party ran through the list of people they knew who had the capability of using Holy-based energy, and their whereabouts during the time of the explosion.

Alexander (absent along with Darien)
Trias (in Paradise at the Cathedral of Alexander)
Madain (Tomogara Ascendant, and with Kalil during the time of the explosion)
Yuna (captured by Hades)
General Leo (absent along with Darien)
Brotherhood (with Kogel in pocket world)

Religious iconography was also found etched into the explosion itself — Darien spotted it by following lines through rocks that matched when looked at from a certain perspective. The script was known by Kogel, having seen it inside the hastily-erected churches of Alexander on Quel’Malar. Naoko translated it (via text message) as “something about sinning and the word for glory. She says the grammar is multiple subjects, hostile and meant to condemn.”

Darien found the same phrase on a picture Kalil sent him from the Striestadt Separatists location, a picture of Darien fighting Ultima Weapon in Striestadt and the following quotes: “For all have sinned and shall be born in the glory, and He shall shine his Divine Judgment upon thee,” at the top of the image, and a quote from Darien at the bottom: “I feel that Striestadt’s technological ingenuity is among the best gifts it can give the rest of Damocles.”

Darien theorized that the Striestadt Separatists were building their own Alexander; perhaps not an Aeon, but a mobile battlestation with Holy energy acquired from somewhere. The blast came from the northeast, pointing to the small mining town of Irvan or the Boryokudan-controlled city of Murond. A flyover confirmed that Irvan was the location of the explosion, and the party left after that confirmation, no one feeling very good about what they discovered.

Boardwalk Empire

“So thanks to the Tonberry Restoration Committee, I’m heading up a store for the first time. And as you’ve probably guessed, it’s to do with your clothes.”“Bless you, young lady.”

-Mariano and Kogel

Our heroes returned to Madain Sari and were greeted by Santana on behalf of the Tonberry Restoration Committee, who walked them through a set of large changes to the Boardwalk section of Madain Sari.

Three new stores opened on the Boardwalk, alongside The Other Side Of Life, Orlando’s Magic, and Dart’s Board.

Artimecion’s Artistry — The Weapons store, though the moogle in charge treats it like far more of a museum. Runes can also be purchased here.
Soul of Science — Owned by Darien. Gadgets and guns make up the order of the day, but Tech-Mods are also available.
Mileenese — Owned and operated by Mariano, where new clothes, both functional and fashionable, can be purchased. Tailoring can also be done here.

Shortly thereafter, the party ran into Squall Leonhart, who came looking for Naoko, Kogel, and Champ specifically. The remnants of Lord Hades’s forces retreated into Paradise after the battle, making their home in Kouhei Castle. Gabriel requested a team to investigate the airship graveyard from before the world broke, saying that he did see the Boryokudan ship go there, and maybe the Boryokudan were involved.

Kalil received a mystery phone call that turned out to be Arcell, sounding very strained. Arcell inquired as to Caelis’s whereabouts, but Kogel said that Caelis may still be imprisoned. Arcell said the search would continue, and warned the party to watch for any aberrant behavior with the WEAPONs. Arcell said he would call on the party again when they next watched a show at Night’s Run to check in.

Aidan mentioned in passing that he sold his motorcycle, the Furious Angel, for a charity auction to help a foundation for supporting single parents in Luxuocidad. Naoko pressed him on how he was doing, and Aidan assured her he was fine.

In the end, Kogel, Naoko, and Kalil prepared to set off for Kouhei Castle, while Darien, Aidan, and Champ would go to the Airship Graveyard.

Postgame

This session marked the addition of three new shops on Madain Sari, with new support mechanics. Naoko also debuted her new tonfas.

A Link To The Past

Storming The Castle

“I don’t suppose walking in under pretense of diplomacy is an option?”“Well, I do own the place.”

-Kogel and Naoko

Naoko, Kogel, and Kalil traveled into Paradise and to Kouhei Castle, intent on putting a stop to the Brood of the Dark Lord once and for all, though Naoko harbored concerns about the rumor Squall shared about Sari being in charge. As they approached the castle itself, a memory overtook Kalil of a time where he saw Kouhei Castle, long in the past.

Kalil’s Memory

The blizzard’s wind slices through your armor, the cloak wrapped around you serving as nothing more than a wet towel plastered against your skin, sending icy daggers into your bones, fighting against your every step.In the distance you can see it – the only light for miles, the only sign of civilization you’ve seen since you left that tiny logging village three weeks ago.Every step is a battle, the snow crunching beneath your boots. You have to tap your hood to keep the snow from building up on it and weighing you down further.But you press on, knowing that what rests in your pack cannot be left to chance, knowing that if you were to die out here, then many more would die after you… and though it would not be your blade that would free them from this world, it would be on your hands nonetheless.

Kouhei Castle included multiple rooms, each of which was explored by the party.

First Floor:
West Room – 1A. North Room, Left Of Stairs – 1B. North Room, Right Of Stairs – 1C. East Room – 1D.

West 1A – The room on the left wing appears to be a reception hall; there is a wooden desk and high-backed chair on the far side of the room, framed by tall windows hidden behind blue curtains. Five large bookshelves sit on the north wall, spines covered in letters you cannot read. Naoko discovered that the books looked to all be written here, from how the lettering was the same on each of these, and they appeared to be books of a primarily political bent — The Tonberry Nation, The Cactuar Of Saboten, The Caelondian Kingdom, etc. Other books were history books, religious texts (focusing on Bahamut, Alexander, Odin, Garuda, and others), books on native flora and fauna, etc. The desk was full of misshapen green materia, and since materia did not exist in the Old World they struck Naoko as peculiar.

NW 1B – This is, or at least was, an armory. Racks that once held spears, mannequins that bore suits of armor, and chests that must have once held many goods. They certainly don’t now — the racks are empty, the mannequins are bare, and the chests lay open, raided. Kalil found little of interest in here.

NE 1C – A small, restrained sanctuary, with an organ at the back, an altar in front of fifteen rows of pews, and a holy symbol in front of a statue of Bahamut at the back of the sanctuary. The statue is surrounded by candles — candles lit recently. See below for Kogel’s exploration.

East 1D – This dining room is dominated by the beautiful, long table in the center of the room, set with the finest china and piled high with food that fills you with an incredible hunger you did not have before you came in. Succulent bird, beef, bratwurst, and some sort of plant that starts with B for the salads that are set above and to the right of every plate. Kalil investigated this room, wanted no food, and left.

Second Floor

West 2A – A waiting room, where lords and ladies of varying levels of import would be told to sit and wait, probably with some tea or something, while the King or Queen prepared to welcome them.
It is also a bedroom, from the bedroll in the corner; a thin bedroll, white sheets and pillow, empty plate sitting against the wall, and an extinguished lantern on the windowsill above. No one found anything of interest here beyond the bedroll.

Center 2B – Blocked from entry via a barred door and a magical seal.

East 2C – This room is full of paintings, hanging on the walls and positioned on easels. Most are complete, though there is one partially complete in the far corner. All of the paintings are portraits, and the face on every painting has been scratched out. All save two — the largest painting in the room, of King Randall II of Kouhei, and the painting in progress, which is of Princess Sari, age 19. Kogel identified the painter as Bertrand Gwynhald, known for his series of paintings on kings and queens, and also found a painting that looked remarkably like how someone of the time might have described Kogel — the man in the frilly long coat, the feathered hat, holding a letter in one hand and a crossbow in the other one. They also found a program for Act 1 of Horizon.

The Girl

“You’re not taking her from us. You’re not going to kill her like you did him. If I have to fight you myself and die, then I will! I’m not letting you take her!”

-The Girl, to Kogel

When Kogel investigated the Sanctuary, and specifically the defaced holy symbol of Bahamut, a small girl attacked him, stabbing him in the shoulder with a poisoned dagger while shouting that he would not take the Princess from her. Kogel fought the poison with a Remedy and fought the girl by not fighting at all, instead putting distance between he and the girl and assuring her that they came to do no such thing.

The girl knew that Kogel killed Lord Hades, and she was intent on making sure nothing like that happened to Sari. Kogel talked to the girl carefully, trying to put her at ease without misleading her in any way. During the conversation, Kogel learned that the girl thought that Victor was dead, that Schutter too was dead, and that Bahamut was responsible. That’s why she defaced his holy symbol with iconography of Tiamat’s. She also wasn’t allowed into the rest of the castle, according to “the big guy,” Dajjal.

Kogel bartered himself as a hostage to allow Kalil and Naoko to continue further into the castle, and gave Brotherhood to the Girl (whom he was calling “little bird” by this point), though not before taking all of the bullets out. In return, the Girl gave the greenish-brown materia from her dagger to Kalil. The materia was a unique, never-before-seen materia called the Decay materia, created by Sari. The materia’s abilities would allow Kalil and Naoko to advance further into the castle and find Sari, and Kogel would remain with the Girl.

Postgame

Party gained the Decay materia.

The party gained 1 LP each for participation, and 1 LP each for good teamwork.
Kogel gained 1 LP for discovering Captor Girl, and an additional LP for not drawing once.
Naoko gained 1 LP for the search in the library, finding and correctly deducing the purpose of the materia.
Kalil gained 1 LP for an accidental brilliant pre-planning moment where the Ring of Sustenance protected him from eating food that would have allowed the inhabitants of the castle to track him as long as he was within its walls.

“Congratulations, Nathan. You can now say, ‘I beat a tabletop RPG trap on account of it being physically impossible for me to be hungry.’”

Little Scourge

Waiting

“You’re going to take her away.”“If she wants to leave.”“She doesn’t.”

-The Girl and Kogel

While Naoko and Kalil moved further into Kouhei Castle, Kogel remained behind with The Girl, as they both tried to learn a bit more about each other, without giving too much away. Seeing her interest in his unloaded gun, Kogel told her about Brotherhood, how it was his brother’s until Kogel died holding it, and when he came back, both he and the gun had changed. He told her all this because he didn’t want to die again, and she needed to understand how important that gun was to him, and how much he trusted her that he trusted his safety to her.

They spoke of the Brood of the Dark Lord, how Lady Sari commanded it after the death of Lord Hades, and how Lady Sari told The Girl that the goal was to merge this world and the other. The Girl knew of Hades sending Doomtrain to Ad Astra, and how Hades kidnapped summoners under the guise of Eidel, but she clung, desperately, to her faith that everything they did, they did for the best.

“You’d kill one person to save a thousand, right?”“…no. Just one.”

-Kogel and The Girl

The Girl opened up to Kogel, almost reluctantly, about her life. How she lost her only family, an Aeon named Syldra. The Girl was a summoner, and Syldra her only Aeon. It’s incredibly rare for an Aeon to die, but The Girl carried around a red materia orb, drained of all of its power, as a memento. Lord Hades found her and rescued her, and gave her more than safety — he gave her a life, and a purpose. More than anything, though, he gave her a family. Lady Sari.

“My friends there, Kalil and Naoko? We don’t always get along. I’m kind of hard to get along with, I suppose. I got too used to being alone. I lost my family when I was young, and I found a new purpose. Hunting down people who’d done wrong, finding them where they hid or were lost. That purpose became everything. What I did became the entirety of who I was.

“And I did some bad things. I hurt people, because I thought that purpose meant more than people. It’s hard to let that go. My friends… they remind me that I’m more than just the gunman. And that scares me sometimes because I spent so long not wanting to be anything but the job. The purpose. So I just kept thinking of everything as the job. Nothing else mattered. Until they got in. They got through to me. Things matter. I matter. Even if it reminds me of what I lost, or what I’ve done, that matters. I could sign a contract and have something easy to die for, if that was the job. It’s been harder to find something to live for.

“So believe me when I say I know where you’re coming from. But I know that it’s worth having something to live for. If she’s what you have to hold on to – I will not take that away from you. I couldn’t."

-Kogel, to The Girl

Intruders

“Remnants of the Brood of the Dark Lord! I have come here today not as your enemy or your conqueror, but as your savior! Do not fear reprisal from those whom you forsook under the false teachings of Lord Hades, for I have come to deliver you from damnation by his hands! However, should any of you move to oppose me, your force will be met in kind, for I have not come alone! But fear not, for any who oppose me shall not perish, but will instead be brought out of the darkness and into the light! Lord Oneiros has returned!”“Balls.”

-Lord Oneiros and Kogel

Argus, now calling himself by his Brood name, Lord Oneiros, entered Kouhei Castle with the intent of taking the Brood of the Dark Lord under his guidance and leadership. He came with about fifteen cultists following him, ready to defend him if need be. Neither Kogel or The Girl trusted them, and with Kogel seeming like less of a threat now that he was an actual person, The Girl gave him his gun back, asking him to keep Lady Sari safe.

Kogel confronted Argus, and the war of words was engaged, though neither man moved for a weapon at any moment; Argus was not even armed. Kogel warned Argus about bringing an army into a sovereign state, while Argus argued that he came with the blessing of The Destroyer Herself, and even manifested traces of Dark Fire to illustrate his point. After the cultists retired to the dining hall to wait, Kogel and Argus spoke quietly, with Argus saying that he came to hear his goddess’s voice, and to save a people that needed asving, that had been led astray under Hades for the past many years. Argus came to undo the damage that the Brood did as a terror cell, and he prayed that he would not be wrong in this aim. Argus took Kogel’s warnings to heart, and awaited his audience with the Lady Sari.

The Girl decided to take Kogel to see Sari and tell her about what was happening, and showed him to a secret passageway inside the Armory.

The Archer

“This is Schutter. As you can see, quite alive. Ally and friend to the Lady Sari.”“But he’s dead.”“Why do you people always think that’s the end to things?”

-Kogel and The Girl

The entrance to Sari’s room at the top of the secret passageway was barred by an armoire nailed to the wall with a large arrow. Kogel forced his way through, pistol drawn, to find Schutter on the far side, arrow nocked, ready to fire. They both stood down upon seeing the other.

Schutter told Kogel that Sari was downstairs with Kalil and Naoko, and that he happened to see a small creature that he suspected was one of the Destroyer’s shadow creatures and fired at it, figuring that he destroyed it in one shot. Schutter told Kogel and The Girl how to get to Sari, and then left, telling them that “we” would be coming to help Sari.

As Kogel and The Girl raced toward Sari, an ominous rumbling began in the basement…

Postgame

GM’s Note: While not said in the session itself, the “shadow creature” Schutter fired at was one of Nephesh’s individual parts, gathering information throughout the castle.

Link Points

Kogel earned two LP for the session, plus a bonus LP for a heated debate that never trended into a threat of imminent violence.

Omega Weapon

“What do you need a guardian for?”“This realm is full of monsters and demons, demons that will target a summoner specifically due to the command he has over them.”“…No, it isn’t…”

-Naoko and Estelle

Kouhei Castle

Kalil and Naoko traveled deeper into Kouhei Castle in search of Lady Sari, in an attempt to rescue her from the Brood of the Dark Lord and bring the cult to an end. Kalil cut through the magical seal with Ascalon equipped with the Decay materia, and they proceeded forward until they reached two of the remaining cultists — a young summoner named Sullivan, and his guardian, Estelle. Estelle was clearly the smarter of the two, but Kalil’s unfailing politeness and Naoko’s notable lack of patience led them to leave quickly in order to announce the Queen of Paradise’s calling upon Lady Sari.

Kalil and Naoko waited in the throne room, but they were not alone.

“So few, so few… So few an audience… …for the Many-As-One.”“…Oh, fuck.”“Not again…”

-Lady Somnus/Nephesh, Naoko, and Kalil

Lady Somnus uncoiled from the ground upon hearing Naoko’s voice, demanding to know where the rest of her number were, behaving in an odd, disjointed manner. It wasn’t until Naoko confirmed that it was just she and Kalil, and they had not come to fight, that the reason for Somnus’s behavior became clear.

Lady Somnus picked up a hitchhiker when she left Unterstadt; Nephesh’s metallic individual souls. Over time, more of Nephesh gathered on Somnus, using her as a carrier to be free of the forces of EDEN under Striestadt; at least, until Somnus was shot and killed by Kogel shortly thereafter during the Doomtrain attack on Ad Astra. Desperate for safety, Nephesh used Somnus’s body as a host, keeping her outwardly alive in order to remain safe from prying eyes. The continued destruction of the Brood of the Dark Lord, coupled with Somnus’s injuries from being shot in the eye with a sniper rifle, led many to believe her erratic behavior was due to some kind of brain damage.

Nephesh wished for home, somewhere safe, somewhere he could be free and far away from any enemies. Kalil promised to help Nephesh, figuring that Darien could probably come up with something, especially with Nephesh being made up primarily of Striestadtians who were unable to return to the Lifestream upon their deaths at the hands of Huxley and his operations. Naoko spent most of the conversation attempting to crawl out of her own skin.

They heard Argus make his appearance, but trusted Kogel to take care of it when his voice cut in.

The door behind the throne opened.

Sari

You’ve seen her over and over again in the visions of the Old World, the war between Kouhei and Tetsu, as told by the otherworldly performances at Horizon.You’ve seen her in passing, fleeting glances of a robed woman in the background with Hades.Kalil saw her, desperately, from the back of his motorcycle, pleading with her to return to Victor and leave Hades behind.But this is the first time you’ve really seen her — the sad green eyes, the dark hair pulled tight back from her face, the light scar on her left cheek, the thicker scar bisecting her right eyebrow.The Sorceress, Sari.

-The GM

Sari’s first words to Naoko and Kalil were that they shouldn’t be here — that this was only to be the Brood of the Dark Lord. She took over the Brood of the Dark Lord to bring an end to them. Lord Hades continued in the style of Lord Acheron from her time, far before theirs, and that any others who came would be like him. If the next leader had the intelligence and vision that Hades lacked, in favor of his own charisma and presence. The last thousand years of Sari’s life, watching every rise and fall of the underside of the world that worshipped the Destroyer, led her to believe that bringing the final elements of the cult together, and ending them, would be the only solution.

Sari ordered them to leave, stopping only to rescue Anise, The Girl, who went by AJ, who deserved no part of this. She reacted harshly when Kalil mentioned Victor in an attempt to appeal to the Sorceress from the Horizon performances. She told them to leave, that there was nothing in her actions that warranted heroes like them.

“They named me after you.”

-Naoko

Naoko’s simple words shook Sari, and the revelation that the former Avatar of Angra Mainyu, Yuna, was now the Aeon of Time and put the entire power of the Destroyer to rest, shook her even further. Sari’s stated goal, to be a weapon of the Destroyer for she felt that she warranted nothing further after the last thousand years, fell on deaf ears and a quiet fury from Naoko. Naoko and Kalil both had the idea to get Sari in contact with Yuna, and Kalil used the Paradise Phone to call Cloud and get that process started. Sari struggled to reconcile her knowledge of the Aeon of Time with the fact that Yuna was now the Aeon of Time.

Impending Doom

“Is that Tifa on the phone? Why are we calling Tifa? Since when does a phone work here? Who else HAS a phone here?” Why does Yuna have Tifa’s phone?

-Kogel

Kogel arrived as the ground began to shake, The Girl in tow, and stood around confused as absolutely no one bothered to bring him up to speed on what was happening. Cloud and Tifa reached Yuna, and for a few moments, the Aeon of Time and the First Summoner had a phone conversation.

“Hello, Sari. I think we’ve met before, but I wasn’t as much myself then I was now. I was… a little bit more, I think, then. Angra Mainyu may have been many things, but more than anything else in the world, Angra Mainyu sought to preserve, not destroy. They called us the Destroyer because of what we did to the world, but the reasons behind our actions were… different, than what was said. We sought to protect this world, and all of the others, from a much bigger threat called EDEN, one that created worlds only to destroy them when it didn’t approve of the outcome.We, Angra Mainyu, took what remained of these worlds and kept them safe, bottled up and hidden away, frozen in time, so they wouldn’t really die. But we were wrong to do that. We took too many worlds, and we couldn’t just protect worlds by locking them away like that. We weren’t saving anyone, we were just imprisoning them. We decided — after meeting Kalil and the others — to instead let the worlds fight for themselves, and end that age of imprisonment. Angra Mainyu freed the worlds then, restoring Paradise to what you knew it as, and went away then. It’s not us anymore. It’s just me."

-Yuna, to Sari

The ground shook again as Sari realized the gravity of her mistakes. Sari told AJ to leave with the others, as she needed to put a stop to something that she started long before — Omega Weapon.

“Hades gave it his own name. Dajjal.”

-Sari

Postgame

This session had the most screaming-at-the-GM since the introduction of Naoko’s siblings in the false world.

Naoko and Kalil both earned two LP for this session.
Naoko earned a bonus LP for “They named me after you.”
Kalil earned a bonus LP for having a Special Aeon Phone.
Kogel earned one LP for his appearance at the end of this session.

The Battle For Kouhei Castle

The First Stage

“My Paradise, my rules. No one dies on my watch that I’m not currently furious at.”

-Naoko

Kalil, Naoko, and Kogel prepared to fight Omega Weapon, Dajjal, and try to save a castle full of innocent members of the Brood of the Dark Lord. Dajjal was emerging through the basement, his approach designed to deal as much damage to the castle as possible and bring it down on him and everyone in it. The party split up to try and get people out as quickly as possible, with Kogel and Naoko heading down to evacuate Argus, and Kalil and Sari heading up to evacuate the cultists.

Kalil, aboard his motorcycle, used his speed and recklessness to speed along the winding paths of the castle, and then followed that with the Sheathed usage of Fly in his Swordmancer stance to successfully eject everyone from the castle and down safely to the ground out of one of the towers. He then sped to rejoin the group.

Kogel and Naoko raced to Argus, but were met by Dajjal bursting out of the basement almost immediately, as the 15-foot giant threw Argus aside and began battering the heroes. Naoko and Kogel traded blows with Dajjal, neither making much of a dent against him, until Kogel took the vial of poison he took from Flynn Ruat’s would-be assassin weeks before and plunged it into Dajjal’s arm.

Omega Weapon Emerges

Dajjal changes dramatically, as the runes on his body crack open and split due to the stress of the power inside his crafted body. His shoulders bulk up considerably, rising to the point where they are level with his head. His left arm twists into a massive sword, the same dark shade as Ultima Weapon. His right arm grows in size, mutating into a mockery of a metal-plated set of shark jaws, like Emerald Weapon used on the battle on Madain Sari. His body shifts and contorts a second set of legs, purple plated legs that turn him into a kind of centaur being, like Giga Weapon. The new body ends in a barbed scorpion tail, the same bleached desert red as Ruby Weapon. Diamond-studded falcon wings erupt from his back, reflecting the light from the sun breaking through the crumbling castle. His torso is the same burnt-orange screaming train-face as Terra Weapon/Doomtrain. He stands, the wings slicing through the stone, more light breaking through as parts of the castle crumble around him.

-The GM

Kalil crashed into the battle just in time to see Dajjal’s transformation into Omega Weapon, and the party launched into a full assault, Naoko adding Madain to their roster in the opening salvo. Kogel used the Fourth Vein to petrify Omega Weapon, but Omega’s Purity of Body cleansed the ailment almost immediately, much to Kogel’s shock. As Omega Weapon tried, and failed, to dislodge Kalil from atop its body, Victor, Sari, and Schutter appeared, joining the battle with the kind of remembered teamwork that carried them through their battles with Lord Acheron and Tiamat many years earlier. The finish to the battle came when Kalil, knocked off-balance by Omega Weapon’s constant movements, pivoted on his heel and sliced clean through the monster’s neck.

Restoration

“Okay, History’s Gunman, right. Time to use the first part of that name more than the second.”

-Kogel

After the battle, Kogel looked at the damaged Kouhei Castle, holes punched through the walls, littered with rubble, and swore to live up to the title of History’s Gunman as he used his Materia Fusion ability to combine Life and Earth into the brand new spell, Rebuild. The power that filled him unwound time and knitted the broken stones of Kouhei Castle, transforming the ruin into the wonder it once was, and transforming Kogel’s Materia Break ability into Materia Create.

The party gave Victor and Sari space to have their reunion, checked on the severity of Argus’s injuries and helped heal him with Potions, and then discussed the matter of what land Kouhei Castle technically was on, with Kogel favoring the theory of it being still Kouhei, and the Castle being an embassy in Paradise. Everyone then broke to go explore the restored Kouhei Castle, anxious to really see it for the first time.